Coping Over Tea
by Sgamer82
Summary: Part of my Post-Canon Conan: The battle with the Organization has ended, but its scars, physical and emotional alike, remain. Late one night, Shinichi and Ai discuss their woes. (One-shot)


_**Detective Conan**_  
 _ **Coping Over Tea**_  
By  
Sgamer82

Another sleepless night.

They had become all too common in the Kudo household over the last several months. At two in the morning, Shinichi Kudo was being reminded why that was so in his case. He had been asleep for four blessed hours before some twinge or spasm in his right leg forced him back to reality.

Shinichi grumbled. He tried to get back to sleep only for some ache to cause him to grit his teeth and wake him enough that he had to start all over. After twenty minutes of eternity trying and failing to sleep, he decided to do something that a man with a leg injury probably should not be doing.

He got out of bed, stood up, and walked to the kitchen.

As he stood, he eyed the wall next to his bed where a set of crutches and a cane both leaned. The cane was new, special ordered by his father when the doctors finally said he didn't have to rely solely on crutches, and designed to resemble Holmes' walking stick. He passed both, limping to his door.

It was a short walk, Shinichi supporting himself on the wall, to reach the kitchen. Shinichi's parents had moved his things to one of the downstairs bedrooms so he'd have to navigate the stairs as little as possible. Shinichi was grateful for that even as he resented being moved around because of his new situation.

He saw a light was on in the kitchen. Shinichi stopped and listened, wondering if he should turn back. Recent events had, perhaps unsurprisingly, brought out the mother hen in Yukiko Kudo. He knew from unpleasant experience that there would be hell to pay if his mother caught him with neither crutch nor cane for support.

There was a scent in the air. Chamomile. He heard footsteps. They weren't the heavier steps of a grown man or woman. They were a soft patter of small bare feet on the kitchen tile. Shinichi grinned, knowing now who he would find in the kitchen.

When he walked in he saw exactly what he'd anticipated. A little girl, the newest addition to the Kudo family, was the one making the noise. She had just climbed into a chair and was blowing onto a cup of tea. Across from her was a second cup, still steaming, that had obviously been prepared moments ago.

"That one's yours." Ai Kudo, though Shinichi had yet to break the habit of thinking of her as Haibara, pointed to the second cup. She grinned. "You weren't exactly subtle. I knew you would come out eventually." She looked Shinichi up and down. "Shouldn't you have your cane or something? I seem to recall Mama saying she'd slap you silly the next time she caught you without it."

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Shinichi asked. "I seem to recall Dad reminding you that young children have bedtimes."

Haibara's face reddened briefly at Shinichi's reminder of her official status as the Kudo household's second child. She recovered quickly and smirked at Shinichi.

"Are you going to tell on me, Onii-chan?"

Shinichi shook his head and took a seat of his own. Haibara set her cup down, got out of her chair, and pushed a third chair in front of Shinichi, who gratefully hefted his right leg into it.

"Is that still as weird for you to say as it is for me to hear?" he asked after he had settled.

"Not at all, Onii-chan," she said with extra cheerfulness. "I've gotten quite used to calling you 'onii-chan', Onii-chan. It's the most natural thing in the world Onii-chan."

Shinichi glared at Haibara's smirking face.

"I should have seen that coming."

"You really should have," Haibara confirmed. She looked at his outstretched leg. "So, usual reason?"

Shinichi didn't answer right away. He winced as he tried to shift the leg to a more comfortable position. He could only wonder what his expression must look like to Haibara.

"Let's just say I have a lot more sympathy than I used to for old folks who complain about cold weather making their joints ache. Pain's not as bad as it used to be, at least. I can actually put some weight on it for nearly a whole minute without screaming and feeling like every nerve is being set on fire." Shinichi managed a smile, then looked seriously at Haibara. "How about you? Usual reason?"

Haibara didn't answer right away. She averted her gaze, hiding the eyes Shinichi had already seen were bloodshot, and ran her hand across her face to get rid of any lingering tear streaks.

"The nightmares aren't nearly as bad as they used to be. They're coming less frequently and," Haibara managed a grin of her own, "they aren't reducing me to a huddled, barely functional mass of pants-wetting terror anymore."

Shinichi took a sip from his tea and sighed.

"Is being able to joke about all of this a good thing?" Shinichi asked after a moment.

"It certainly beats wallowing in bitter tears and self-pity," Haibara replied.

"What's the saying? You have to either laugh or cry?" Shinichi mused.

"I, for one, am _sick_ of crying," Haibara said.

"Hear, hear." Shinichi raised his cup in toast. Haibara did the same. They sat quietly, drinking their tea for several minutes before Haibara broke the silence.

"You really should use the cane," Haibara said. "You're only impeding your own recovery, and that's before factoring in the higher risk of injuring yourself further by falling or overdoing things."

"I get enough of that from Mom and Dad, thank you very much," Shinichi grumbled.

"They're not wrong," Haibara insisted. "Do you know that's why Papa ordered the cane to look like Holmes'? He assumed you would use it like you should if it wasn't just some everyday cane."

"Like giving a child a bandage with his favorite TV characters on it," Shinichi said, his grumble escalating into a growl.

"That may be," Haibara conceded with maddening calm. "But are you really going to risk your mobility, at best, out of stubborn pride."

"You're hardly one to talk, _Ai-chan_ ," Shinichi snapped, putting emphasis on his form of address. "I'm not so sure someone who willingly chose the life of a seven year old gets to lecture me about pride."

"No, maybe I don't." Haibara stood up in her chair. Her face was red, but she wasn't rising to Shinichi's bait. "I _do_ , however, get to lecture you on knowing when that pride is a hindrance! Is a walking stick so detestable it's worth risking a wheelchair?"

Shinichi opened his mouth to retort, only to close it without a word. Fists Shinichi hadn't realized he was clenching opened.

"No," he said. The anger drained from his voice. "No it's not. I know, I really _do_ know, that if I want to have anything like full use of my leg, or even if I just don't want to lose what I have, then I need to be doing what I'm told. I'm… it's just…"

"You feel weak," Haibara said, her face returning to its normal color.

"I feel weak." Shinichi slapped a hand on the table in frustration. "And I hate it. I dealt with it enough as Conan, being smaller than everyone and everything. I'm Shinichi again for less than six months and…"

He scowled at his leg.

"You think you finally have things under control," Haibara said. "That your life is on the way to becoming what you want… then the Organization's shadow snatches it away at the last second."

"I suppose I _am_ preaching to the choir, aren't I?" Shinichi observed.

"Indeed," Haibara said. "Bad dreams were a part of my life from pretty much the day Ai Haibara came into existence. After… after everything, they became more frequent. I thought I could handle it without involving anyone else. Without making my new parents worry about me. I was wrong."

Ai shuddered.

"They didn't just become more frequent, they became more vivid; more intense. It didn't take Papa and Mama long to realize what was happening. As you can imagine, they were unimpressed by my insistence that I was perfectly fine, given the aforementioned 'barely functional mass' situation."

"Wait." Shinichi raised a hand. "Was this the week they wouldn't let you go to bed by yourself?"

"Yes." Red returned to Haibara's cheeks. "Which brings me back to my original point. Embarrassing as I find this to admit, they helped me, then. Left to my own devices, letting my pride dictate my actions, I was well on my way to a mental breakdown. Avoiding that was worth a few blows to my ego."

"And possibly regaining, or even just keeping, the ability to walk with two legs is worth a few blows to mine," Shinichi conceded. He sighed. It wasn't an admission he was happy making, but Haibara was right. "Consider your point made."

"Good to hear," Haibara said. She cocked her head to the side. "Really, though, why does it only sink in when _I_ say it? I know for a fact you've been getting these lectures for weeks already."

Shinichi looked at Haibara for a moment. The comeback he was contemplating died as he realized her question was sincere and not just another attempt to tease him. That's when he started to laugh. It was stifled, due to his remembering the late hour, but it was laughter nonetheless. Haibara's eyes narrowed at him response.

"Sorry," Shinichi said. "It just occurred to me you were serious."

"Of course I was," Haibara said. This just made Shinichi shake his head.

"The reason I've ignored both Mom's and Dad's lectures is precisely because _they_ were giving them."

"That… that makes no sense." Haibara shook her head.

"I suppose it wouldn't to you." Shinichi grinned. "It's a bit early for you to have a rebellious phase. You're still at that age where kids simply obey their elders."

"Very funny," Haibara said, scowling. The scowl suddenly became a yawn that Haibara barely held back.

"I suppose I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she said.

"To go back to sleep?" Shinichi asked.

"To wake up Papa and Mama," Haibara's words prompted a confused look from Shinichi.

"Part of dealing with my nightmares is talking about them as soon as possible when they happen," she admitted. "They insist I do it even if that means waking one or both of them up in the middle of the night."

"Then why were down here making tea?" Shinichi asked.

"I needed to brace myself before reliving my traumas twice in one night and I couldn't get into the liquor cabinet."

"Makes sense," Shinichi said. "Go on up. I'll get the dishes."

"Are you sure?" Haibara asked, her eyes going to his legs.

"I can handle standing at the sink long enough to do some rinsing, Haibara," Shinichi told her. "My leg's feeling better enough I think I can get some sleep afterward, too, so I'll be fine."

"Hmm..." Haibara's eyes narrowed. Shinichi realized what she was thinking about. He sighed.

"Would you please go get my cane out of my room?" Shinichi asked. "If you do I promise I'll use it every literal step of the way."

"Good," Haibara said.

As she got up to do as she was asked, Haibara looked at the kitchen door and froze.

"Um, Kudo-k… er," she stopped herself quickly, "I mean, Onii-chan."

Shinichi quirked an eyebrow. Haibara didn't correct herself like that unless-

His head snapped to the kitchen door. Leaning against the doorframe was Shinichi's cane with a note taped to it.

"As someone who's far more experienced with parental displeasure than I, what do you make of this?"

"Why do you assume-" Shinichi's question was stopped by a raising of Haibara's eyebrow. "Okay, fair point. As for what this is," Shinichi gestured to the cane, "That will probably depend on the note. What's it say?"

"Looks like Papa's handwriting," Haibara noted as she looked at it.

"This _is_ more like him," Shinichi agreed. "He likes to be subtle. Mom likes big gestures. She'd be more likely to stand at the door quietly letting us dig our own graves for as long as it took us to notice her standing there smirking like, well, you."

"That definitely sounds like her," Haibara said, ignoring that last crack. She looked down at the note. "'I don't want to ruin the nice moment you two were having,'" Haibara read, "'so you're off the hook for tonight. Shinichi, please use the cane when you return to your room. As Ai pointed out, you have it for a reason.'"

At that Haibara picked up the walking stick and handed it to Shinichi, who used it to pick himself up to his feet.

"Was that all?" Shinichi asked.

"Yes," Haibara answered, just a little too quickly. Shinichi's free hand shot out and grabbed the note from Haibara's hand. She tried to grab it back only for Shinichi to instinctively utilize the older sibling tactic of holding the note far out of her reach.

"'As for you, Ai," Shinichi read aloud, "I appreciate talking to us about your nightmares is not enjoyable, but it still needs to be done. I will meet you upstairs.'" Shinichi looked down at Haibara. She stopped grabbing for the note and looked away. She definitely was not happy about her part of the note.

"Haibara?"

"It's fine." Haibara waved off his worry. "Papa just has this annoying habit of waiting for me to speak."

"And he just sits there waiting no matter how long it takes you to open up. Best option is to get it over with and move on." Shinichi grinned at Haibara's surprise. "You said it yourself; I have far more experience with them than you."

Haibara's surprise became amusement and she made to leave the kitchen. Shinichi started collecting the empty tea teacups and whatever else he could with one free hand.

"I'll need to remember that when I need advice for dealing with them." Haibara stifled a fresh yawn. "Good night, Onii-chan."

"Good night, Ai."

Both Shinichi and Haibara froze. Haibara at the door, Shinichi at the sink. They turned and looked at one another.

"Was that strange to you?" Ai asked.

"No. No it wasn't," Shinichi replied.

They both smiled.

"Me either," Haibara said.


End file.
